with Richard Belzer

I Am Not a Cop!

IN THIS CAPTIVATING, OFTEN HILARIOUS DEBUT MYSTERY, ONE OF THE GREAT COMEDIANS OF OUR TIME BLENDS FACT WITH FICTION, AS LAW & ORDER: SVU’S RICHARD BELZER’S OFF-CAMERA PERSONA COMES TO LIFE ON THE PAGE, EMPLOYING INVESTIGATIVE KNOW-HOW AND COMEDIC TIMING IN EQUAL MEASURE TO SOLVE THE MYSTERY SURROUNDING THE DISAPPEARANCE OF A TRUSTED FRIEND.

When Richard Belzer meets Rudy Markovich, NYC medical examiner, for dinner in Brighton Beach, he has little reason to expect anything more than a friendly bull session. But in the next twenty-four hours Belzer finds himself in the middle of a vicious street brawl, splashed across the tabloid headlines as an out-of-control celeb, and fearing for the life of his good pal Rudy — who police assume is sleeping at the bottom of the East River.

As Belzer finds himself increasingly required to call upon the resources he taps to portray Detective Munch on nbc, he maintains his sense of humor and carries us along on a rollicking ride through the underworld of New York City. With Rudy kidnapped, or worse, it falls to The Belz to track him down and solve the riddle to the vanishing act.

The lives of Detective Munch and Richard Belzer collide and mesh in I Am Not a Cop! as one of America’s great comics and TV cops brings all of his talents to bear in book form and provides a triumph of the mystery genre.

I Am Not a Psychic!

RICHARD BELZER plays the acerbic Detective John Munch on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He has made television history by portraying Detective Munch in ten different television series, including Homicide, The Wire, and Arrested Development. A veteran stand-up comic, actor, and talk-show host, he is the author of I Am Not a Cop!, UFOs, JFK, and Elvis, and coauthor of How to Be a Stand-Up Comic. He divides his time between France and New York City.

Comedy legend Johnny Leland has called in his chips. He’s organizing a charity telethon and needs TV cop Richard Belzer to cohost. Not one to let down an old friend—much less the guy who gave him his start in stand-up comedy—The Belz gets ready to head out to Las Vegas when he receives a mysterious phone call from Paul Venchus, a newspaper colleague from way back.

Twenty-six years ago, beautiful starlet Bridget Burgeon was found dead in her Hollywood apartment. Sleeping pills, the coroner ruled, but many questioned whether her relationship with handsome, up-and-coming California congressman Mark Kaye played a role. Conspiracy theorists have been working overtime ever since, and Venchus claims that he has made a breakthrough in the case. A well-known conspiracy theorist himself, The Belz can’t resist hearing him out and agrees to meet. Then Venchus turns up dead, and a wacky, self-proclaimed female psychic shows up at Belzer’s hotel in Vegas insisting that he continue their investigation.

Relying on his TV cop know-how and celebrity status, they begin to piece together a series of mysterious deaths that, while rooted a quarter of a century in the past, present some very real dangers in the present. As the bodies start piling up, Belzer finds a legendary hit man hot on his trail and must utilize all of his talents not only to pull off a successful telethon but to solve one of our history’s most scandalous conspiracies before his Vegas stint becomes his closing act.